Marriage is Murder

"Thank you," Robert said. He listened to Jim leaving. He sat down on the edge of the stone railing and smoked his cigarette in the quiet. A light on the lawm made him look back up at the house. Their bedroom. Kate was clearly trying to unwind. And he was sure she was doing it over a book. That actually wasn't a bad idea. But finishing his cigarette and then perhaps taking a firewhiskey up to Brian sounded better. After a moment of peace and quiet.

Upstairs, Brian had braced himself to simply sitting awake with his wand in his hand. Just in case. But when khaat jolted awake the first time, he gave up holding his wand to hold her instead. By morning, he was laying on top o the sheets with her locked in his arms like iron. If she would start to wake, for the one millionth time, he woul simply pull her tighter to him, reassure her softly in her ear and soothe her back to sleep. He knew there were times she had just never fully awakened. For him, it had been a long, long night.

He had heard Robert come up to bed around 3 am and go into his room and shut the door. The house was silent right now. The sun was just starting to come up over the eastern horizon. He was deeply relieved. They had all lived through another night. He yawned, tired, knowing the coffee tray would come floating up soon. What he didn't know was whether it was safe to leave her even to shower and shave. He brushed his hand softly across her forehead and cast a bit of a sleep spell, one just enough to let him leave her for just a couple moments. Then he headed to the shower. Another day. was beginning.

Angus was working quietly in the kitchen. It was just another day. Well, sort of. Last night had been stressful. Robert and Kate had not sent for their tea, and Khaat's five kids were not awake yet either. It seemed people were all off to a sluggish start. Even normally insanely punctual Michael had not shown up this morning. So Angus was not hurrying with breakfast. It was baking, but he had turned down the heat on it and his pastries because there wasn't much of a sign of life in the house yet.

He yawned lazily, refreshed his own coffee mug and fed the cats and then heard Jim come downstairs.

"Well, there is someone conscious in the house besides me," Angus said. "This household hasn't slept in like this for a very long time. I don't blame them one bit. Everyone has been so stressed that perhaps they just need a bit of extra sleep. But even the kids don't care to wake up yet. Its rather nice to see all five of Khaat's bunch sleeping in a wee bit."

"Thank you," Angus said, glad for Jim's help with the table. He finally began to hear some movement upstairs, so he began to fill plates. He knew that meant people were due downstairs momentarily.

Kate and Robert came downstairs finally with their five grandchildren and set them at the table. "Good morning," they said.

"Good morning," Angus said, handing them each a cup of tea. Robert was dressed for work. "You're still going in, I see."

"I have to," Robert said. "This illness is reaching epidemic proportions. We need every healer we can get there right now. And we're doing all we can for Khaat here. You all can stand guard and take care of her as well as I can. But, so you know I might well need Brian in London to help as a healer. Brian's writing out my instructions just in case I have to ask him to come in. I will try not to, but most of what she will need are things that you all can do yourselves. I expect her to sleep most of the day. She shouldn't be much trouble."

"The barn?" Robert frowned. "I can understand damage to the shield, but I didn't know there was a problem with the barn. What the devil happened out there?" Angus put bowls in front of all of the children and then floated plates to the table. Dakota started eating as usual, and so did the triplets. Abbey was picking this morning. Robert frowned. That just wasn't Abbey.

"Hey," he said to her. "What the matter? Not hungry?" She looked up at him, not saying a word and went back to chasing a piece of egg around on her plate with her fingers. "You okay?" he asked her. She got down off her chair and left the dining room without a word. And what Robert noticed first was that the beautiful smile that so delighted his heart was missing from her face this morning.

Robert got up and left the table and went over to Abbey. She had gone into the living room and was just sitting on the floor. He knelt in front of her. "Hey," he frowned. "No smile for Papa today?" His voice was gentle. She shook her head no. She was playing with a strand of carpet rather aimlessly. He stood up, picked her up and sat her on his lap. He wrapped her close to him. "What's the matter?" he asked her, kissing her forehead. He noticed she was just a trifle warm. He laid his hand on her forehead and noticed she had just a trace of fever, a start of a sore throat, and a start of a stuffy nose. "Ah. Don't feel well?" he asked. She cuddled into him silently. "Papa can fix that," he said. He laid his hand again on her forehead and reduced her symptoms for a bit.

"Doggie hurt Mama," Abbey said. "Put Mama in box." Robert frowned. No one had told her that Khaat had been held in a cell.

"Did you have a dream?" he asked her. She shrugged. She didn't know. "Mama is fine. She's in her room with Daddy."

"No. Mama in box," she said.

"No, no. Come with me. I"ll show you," he said, getting up and taking her upstairs.

"That child has much too much of you and her mother," Angus told Kate.

"So it would seem," Kate said.